KISSIMMEE, Fla. – The Florida Atlantic Owls brought some reminiscence of their Final Four run a year ago as they used runs of 19-0 and 27-6 en route to an impressive 84-50 win over Virginia Tech in the ESPN Events Invitational Championship on Sunday afternoon.
“There were probably four to eight possessions this game on both sides of the basketball, where it was simply guys playing off of each other,” explained FAU head coach Dusty May.
Alijah Martin led four Owls in double figures with 17 points as the athleticism of FAU wore the Hokies down to the point where FAU scored 48 points in the paint while outscoring Virginia Tech, 16-2, off the fastbreak.
FAU never trailed and held a 25-24 lead with 4:39 left in the first half as they finished on a 6-0 run, punctuated by a one-handed slam by Martin. It came after a three-pointer by Johnell Davis as the Owls led the Hokies 32-24 at halftime.
“We’re very confident no matter what happens, who’s out, who’s in fould trouble, the matchups whatever the case, we have a solution because the guy in that lockerroom are committed to doing it together,” said May.
FAU expanded that lead to 44-24 with a 12-0 streak out of halftime when Davis and Martin hit back-to-back threes and Vladislav Goldin scored a pair of baskets in the lane.
Defensively, the Owls had as much control as with their offense bu holding Virginia Tech to 33 percent from the floor as the Hokies missed their first 15 threes, but finally nailed one from the top when Brandon Rechsteiner hit a three off the left wing with 3:22 remaining.
“We were conscious every possession of how capable they are from behind the three-point line, their range, their movement,” said May. “So our guys took it as a personal challenge to take away from the three-point line their range, their movement.”
FAU’s speed and versatility showed as Jalen Gaffney scored seven points in the 29-6 run over 6:58 stretch Brenan Lorient’s slam dunk and a layup by Tre Carroll gave the Owls their biggest lead at 78-41 with 4:13 to play.
Virginia Tech came in with wins over Boise State and Iowa State, but the Hokies were outmanned athletically from the beginning on both the offensive and the defensive ends of the floor.
“I’ve seen every game that they’re played and they shot the fire out of it against Texas A&M,” explained Hokies head coach Mike Young. “They shot it very well Thursday against Butler. That’s a tough, tough matchup. Theyr’e as good as advertised.”